n95 Respirator Masks Best for Swine Flu Health Workers
September 10, 2009 by national
Filed under Product & Book Reviews
Because people can catch the new H1N1 swine flu by inhaling the virus, health-care workers who deal with flu patients should wear properly fitted N95 disposable respirator masks, a new report from the Institute of Medicine advises.
These masks are not the same as loosely fitted surgical masks. N95 respirators fit tightly around the mouth and nose and have filters that can block about 95 percent of the flu virus, according to the report released Thursday.
Purchasing n95 Masks
If you’re contemplating purchasing n95 masks, my suggestion is to purchase them now while the prices are low and there is plenty of inventory. During an actual epidemic supplies can become scarce quickly and prices will no doubt spike. Reliable masks can be purchased through our recommended supplier, Nitro-pak.
“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for protection of health-care workers during an H1N1 outbreak have been that those in close contact with people who have H1N1 flu should wear N95 respirators,” said Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, chair of the Committee on Respiratory Protection for Healthcare Workers in the Workplace Against Novel H1N1 Influenza A.
The Institute evaluated the effectiveness of N95 respirators and medical masks in protecting wearers from the H1N1 flu at the request of the CDC and other government agencies.
“We saw a fair amount of evidence that suggests that this virus can be transmitted through the air,” said Shine, who is also executive vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Texas. “How much of transmission is due to that is still an unproven issue and needs a lot of research.”
Shine noted that the virus is also transmitted by person-to-person contact and by contact with surfaces that have been exposed to the virus. Hence, the advice to wash hands often.
Tests showed that the protection provided by N95 masks was eight to 12 times greater than that offered by surgical masks, the report said.
In addition, tests of surgical masks show wide variations in protection. They can filter from 4 percent to as much as 90 percent of the virus, but there is no way of controlling leakage around the edges of the mask, Shine said.
Doctors Warning of Severe Form of H1N1 Virus
August 29, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Doctors are reporting a severe form of H1N1 that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients hospitalized with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said in an update on the pandemic.
“During the winter season in the southern hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services,” it said.
“Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases.”
Earlier, WHO reported that H1N1 had reached epidemic levels in Japan, signaling an early start to what may be a long influenza season this year, and that it was also worsening in tropical regions.
“Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections,” WHO said.
“In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”
Military Planning For Possible H1N1 Outbreak
July 29, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.
The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.
The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.
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It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.
Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.
H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit Live Online Today
July 9, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Secretaries Kathleen Sebelius (HHS), Janet Napolitano (DHS), and Arne Duncan (ED), along with Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, will host an all-day H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit with states to further prepare the nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of H1N1 flu in the fall.
Federal, state and local officials, emergency managers, educators and others will discuss lessons learned during the spring and summer H1N1 wave, and discuss best practices and preparedness priorities.
Plenary sessions will air live from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM EDT and from 2:45 PM – 4:00 PM EDT.
Watch live here.
WHO Declaration of Swine Flu Pandemic Looks Imminent
June 11, 2009 by national
Filed under Emergency Preparedness
H1N1’s swift spread in Australia may meet criteria for full alert, agency says.
A surge in cases of H1N1 swine flu in Australia may tip the balance and cause the World Health Organization to soon declare the first flu pandemic since 1968, agency officials said Tuesday.
Cases in Australia rose by more than 1,000 on Monday, with most occurring in the southern state of Victoria. Rapid spread of the virus in a region beyond North America has been considered a key factor in labeling the outbreak a pandemic.
WHO calls emergency meeting, H1N1 outbreak now affects 74 countries.
“We are getting really very close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation,” WHO influenza chief Keiji Fukuda said in Geneva.
He said the agency was concerned about the possible “adverse effects” of moving the alert from its current status of phase 5 to the highest level, phase 6, indicating a full pandemic, the Associated Press reported. Fukuda cited concerns over possible panic among the public or inappropriate steps taken by governments.
However, “on the surface of it, I think we are in phase 6,” said Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general. According to Chan, it is crucial to verify that H1N1 has become established beyond North America before a pandemic is declared. “Once I get indisputable evidence, I will make the announcement,” she said Tuesday.
Swine Flu Ruled Out In 1 of 2 L.A. Deaths
April 28, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
At least one of the two deaths that were under investigation by the Los Angeles County Coroners Office was not caused by swine flu, a public health official said Tuesday during a news conference.
Los Angeles County public health officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding said Tuesday during a news briefing that news reports of two possible deaths were initially “misreported.”
“One is definitely not swine flu and the other one is still being looked at,” he said. But … I wouldn’t be surprised if we have deaths associated with influenza. And, if swine flu is like seasonal influenza, we would expect that we would have some deaths associated with it.”
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey told the Los Angeles Times earlier Tuesday that a Bellflower, California-hospital reported the death of a 33-year-old Long Beach man who was brought in Saturday with symptoms resembling swine flu.
Coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday that swine flu was not found in a La Mirada man who died with flu-like symptoms.
Winter says lab testing is pending in the case of a Long Beach man, but swine flu is now not suspected.
CDC Says Too Late To Contain U.S. Flu Outbreak
April 24, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.
CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.
“There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely,” he said.
He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. “So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same.” But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.
Swine Flu News Updates
April 24, 2009 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
Swine flu news updates will be posted here continually. Our original post on the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the US can be read here. Swine Flu – Outbreak in Mexico, U.S. Tied To New Unique Strain
Updates & Additional Swine Flu News Story Links
Friday May 1st, 2009
Thursday April 30th 2009
Wednesday April 29th 2009
Tuesday April 28th 2009
Monday April 27th 2009
- The WHO has raised the pandemic alert level to 4, the highest since the scale was developed in 2005.
Sunday April 26th 2009
Saturday April 25th 2009
Friday April 24th 2009
US medical authorities expressed strong concern Friday about an unprecedented multi-strain swine flu outbreak that has killed at least 60 people in Mexico and infected seven people in the United States.
“It’s very obvious that we are very concerned. We’ve stood up emergency operation centers,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokesman Dave Daigle told AFP.
One major source of concern was that the virus included strains from different types of flu.
“This is the first time that we’ve seen an avian strain, two swine strains and a human strain,” said Daigle, adding that the virus had influenza strains from European and Asian swine, but not from North American swine.
In 11 of 12 reported human cases of swine influenza (H1N1) virus infection in the United States from December 2005 to February 2009, the CDC has documented direct or indirect contact with swine.
But the seven known cases of the previously undetected strain in the United States — five from California and two from Texas — did not have contact with pigs. The seven people infected have all recovered from the flu.
“We have determined that this virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human,” the CDC said on its website. “However, at this time, we have not determined how easily the virus spreads between people.”
Local and state health officials were interviewing not just the people who were infected but the people with whom they had contact, Daigle noted.
CDC says too late to contain U.S. flu outbreak
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.
CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.
“There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely,” he said.
He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. “So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same.” But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.
3rd Possible Swine Flu Outbreak In Mexico
Mexico has reported a third possible outbreak of swine flu in Mexicali, near the U.S. border, with four suspect cases and no deaths to date, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
Source
WHO calls emergency meeting on swine flu
The World Health Organization said on Friday that it was convening an emergency committee to advise whether outbreaks of swine flu in the United States and Mexico constituted an international public health threat.
“WHO will convene, sometime in the very near future, an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations, which will consider whether or not this event constitutes a public health event of international concern,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters in Geneva.
Bio-terrorism – Al-Qaida and the Plague
January 31, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
In the not too distant past, this story would have been front page news.
In the middle of the massive coverage of U.S. President Barack Obama’s inauguration, a rather troublesome news story emerged. Unfortunately, it failed to get the coverage it deserves. If confirmed, it deserves the full attention of the Obama administration: the story has to do with bio-terrorism. Read more
Terrorists Could Use Insect-based Biological Terror Weapon
January 5, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Terrorists would find it “relatively easy” to launch a devastating attack using swarms of insects to spread a deadly disease, an academic has warned.
Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of entomology at Wyoming University and author of Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, said such Rift Valley Fever or other diseases could be transported into a country by a terrorist with a suitcase.
Lockwood said, “I think a small terrorist cell could very easily develop an insect-based weapon.”
He said it would “probably be much easier” than developing a nuclear or chemical weapon, arguing: “The raw material is in the back yard.”
He continued: “It would be a relatively easy and simple process.
“A few hundred dollars and a plane ticket and you could have a pretty good stab at it.”
Governments, he advised, needed to have robust “pest management infrastructure that’s able to absorb and respond to an introduction” of infected insects, he said.
Trying to stop everything coming in at the border would not work, he said.
Rift Valley Fever is an east African disease which “can cause severe disease in both animals and humans, leading to high rates of disease and death” according to the World Health Organisation.
However, WHO says that “the vast majority of human infections result from direct or indirect contact with the blood or organs of infected animals.”
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Flu Pandemic Is Coming – CDC Chief
September 5, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
Ready or not, a flu pandemic is coming, says Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gerberding talked about preparing for the pandemic threat at a national conference Thursday at Logistics Health in La Crosse. No one knows when the pandemic is coming or what strain of flu virus will cause it, but it is overdue, she said. Read more
